NOVATO, CA – The lingering COVID-19 pandemic has forced the all-volunteer Novato 4th of July Parade Inc. Board of Directors to unanimously vote to cancel its Independence Day celebration on Grant Avenue.
“It’s the right thing to do considering the public health consequences of bringing a crowd together,” said Board President Mike Read. “We’ve been monitoring the information coming from Marin County’s Public Health Division and the Governor’s Office as well as the fate of other major events such as the Marin County Fair. Seeing other large public events get canceled because of social distancing guidelines made us realize that we can no longer plan on the parade taking place this July.”
The Board of Directors also wanted to give participants, sponsors, and volunteers plenty of notice about the cancellation. The parade’s theme for 2020 was scheduled to be “The Power of Her Vote,” marking the centennial of the women’s suffrage movement. All seven board members expressed sorrow about the necessary action as they and the parade committee enjoy planning and staging the patriotic celebration.
“We hope that Novato finds other ways to have a spectacular 4th of July and celebrates the founding of our country,” Read said. “We will see everybody in 2021.”
Novato had Independence Day parades well before the city was founded in 1960 but went without one until the modern-day parade organization was established in 1993. The parade has been held every year since then and is the largest single-day holiday celebration of its kind in the North Bay, attracting an estimated 10,000 people over a parade route of seven-tenths of a mile.
The Novato Parade Committee is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group and receives in-kind and financial support from the County of Marin, the City of Novato, and countless sponsors and donors